| What is a Marketing Mix? The marketing mix refers to the actions a company takes to market its product(s) and/or service(s). Typically, it acts as a framework for breaking down the four key components of marketing — product, price, place, and promotion. The marketing mix helps companies organize their marketing initiatives by task and department for more process-driven and impactful marketing campaigns. How to Develop a Marketing Mix Strategy Because the marketing mix incorporates elements from across your department — and even your company — it’s imperative to establish a marketing mix strategy for each product you launch, or for your company as a whole. For a fully-fleshed out marketing mix, follow these steps. 1. Engage in market research and product development. The success of your marketing work is first and foremost contingent on your product. Make sure it’s well-developed and your team can speak to its benefits and the story behind it. 2. Determine your pricing model. A lot goes into choosing a price point. Luckily, you’ll be able to refer to much of the work done in the previous section. Thanks to your understanding of your market through research, you’ll have answered most of the necessary questions in this section. You’ll also need to take your costs into account so you can maximize unit sales and profit. 3. Choose your distribution channels. The place part of the marketing mix answers where your product will be sold. Keep in mind, this can be any combination of your store, a distributor’s store, or online. 4. Select your promotion tactics. Finally, it’s time to promote your product. While this is probably the element most associated with marketing, it’s crucial that this element be completed last, because you need the foundation of product, price, and place before determining promotion tactics. Think about it — shouldn’t you know what you’re promoting, why you’re promoting it, and where it’s available before actually promoting it? It’s tempting to jump right to this step, but your promotion will be much better off if it’s done after everything else in the marketing mix. Need help with your MARKETING? CLICK HERE to download our MP Program guide. Learn how we can help you with your marketing efforts.Are You Using Email Marketing? |
